Success Touching Up Alloys

[ctaylor738]

My 280SL has a very nice set of bundt-cake rims, but with enough problems on three of them that I was dinged in the judging on at a local concours on Saturday The problems are mainly very light curb rash, marking from tire changes, and chips.

I did not want to spray them and lose the factory finish, so I looked for a way to repair these minor flaws. I could not find touch-up paint to use with a brush, but I did have a spray can of Wurth silver lacquer. So what I did was spray a puddle of it into the cap, and then used a small brush to paint over the bad spots on the wheels.

The results were excellent. It is very hard to tell where the rash was (is?). I am going to put another light coat of paint on the rash spots, and then brush on some clear coat (which you can get from MB in a kit with a brush). Then I need to find a very small artist's brush and go after the chips.

Now this is not perfection, and it won't cut it in serious concours events, but it might get past a club judge. And it definitely improves appearance with minimal work and expense.

[H-townbenzoboy]

Got any pics? I would like to see this.
-Joe

[ctaylor738]

I tried, but my camera and camera skills are not good enough to show the details clearly. I will try again soon, on some old bundts that have some really ugly rash.

[Strife]

I refinished my 86 SL wheels. I used "Aircraft stripper" (absolutely noxious but it really works) and repainted with a slightly darker silver, and then clearcoated. Everything came out of spray cans purchaced at Mart Le Wal. Sanding and -buffing- between layers was critical. I also left the wheels to bake for hours in the hot sun after both layers and I swear this really helped (keep in mind you can't do this in the winter up North).

I finished it off with more modern "laurel leaf" center caps and plastic chrome bolt caps (sounds cheezy, but they really look good and won't ever rust).

Well done, IMHO, refinishing is the cheapest (albeit very laborious) upgrade you can do to the appearance of the wheels!

I soap wash the brake dust off of the wheels weekly without fail and wax them monthly. Experience has shown that once baked on, the @#$%#$ brake dust is darned near impossible to get off.

[ctaylor738]

One thing that I read is that it is good to keep a coat of wax on the wheels, and not use abrasives to get the brake dust off. Once you scratch the clear coat, it will make the dust even harder to remove. Also read that you should use the same car wash sfuff you use on the car, on the wheels since soap will strip the wax off.

I've never had a set of wheels good enough to worry about, so this is all new to me.

[HitParader]

Has anyone glass beaded their wheels to remove the old paint and imperfections before repainting? I wonder if there is a powder coat that matches the original silver color.

[RickM]

I've bead blasted other types of wheels with great results. However, this doesn't remove imperfections that go below the paint.

BTW, the use of bondo is fine for touch-ups on a wheel. Especially that little nick or scratch. Just be sure to use a good primer over it and a paint that is compatible with the primer.

[Cape Bob]

I had all 4 of my original 85 wheels refinished $500 total that included breaking them down, remounting and balancing. The spare had never been out of the trunk but they would not guarantee an exact color match to it. They are very close to the color of the spare when completed.

When I put them back I installed a set of 4 Kleen Wheels which do a fantastic job of keeping the brake dust off the newly refinished wheels.

I was forever touching up the the 84 wheels the heat from the brakes would case them to bubble.

If anyone wants the place it was in NH I would have to look up the name. Just contact me.